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Well, this is a
well known plane, so I'm going to this version....when the H-5 and H-3
models were fitted with a nose mounted device to fence off balloons
cables, they were redesigned H-8. Those were developed as night bombers
for the England campaign, and there were different versions of the fence
itself, but it didn't seem to work very well or to be a great
idea. The extra weight in the nose made the plane ungovernable, so the
same amount of weight had to be put in the tail, that's why this
plane just carry one bomb. Another MG machine gun was fitted in the
tail, to protect the rear zone, but it wasn't very useful either.
As there are so few photos of this plane, my conversion isn't an exact
replica of the actual thing, but I think I caught the idea....it wasn't
really difficult, just plastic, some needles, and patience. I also cut the
moving parts of the plane as usual, replacing them later, the flaps with
its curved shape were quite difficult. I also added some wires in the
cockpit area and that useless MG gun in the tail.....(it looks great
anyhow!!!)
Click on
images below to see larger images
Painting was done with the
greens that I had on hand...I don't care to match the actual
tones. I
slightly did the splinter scheme, as I thought that before being night
bombers, these planes were exposed to sunlight in wartime circumstances,
so they should be faded. For the underside black, I paint it
grey first, then applying salt with water, then the gloss black and
that's what I get! a heavily warped black (that paint was water based in
the actual plane, so its logical that would chip away easily).
Then the usual washing with oleos and the (thick n nasty) kit decals....
These H-8 planes were later
used as tugs.....
Pablo
Click on
images below to see larger images
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